What a black conservative thinks about racial dishonesty

Chidike Okeem wants to put an end to black conservatism. He believes that any black conservative who opposes : Affirmative Action or doesn’t cling to the Voting Rights Act as if it were the Bible is either inept or a fraud pandering to mainstream white conservatives. Typically, this is rhetoric spewed by liberal race-peddlers with a desire to discredit minority conservatives. He claims to be a conservative, yet his articles remain some of the most vitriolic, anti-right wing: screeds I have ever read.

The blame doesn’t solely lie with liberals for the lack of legitimate discussion on race, but in the majority of cases of apparent racism that we see on a daily basis, much of the finger-pointing can be directed towards the left. They exhaust numerous resources to make it appear as if all of white America hates all of black America. Their tactics aren’t anything new. They have been using them to convince the black community for years that conservatives really do want to see them in chains. Of course, we know this to be blatantly dishonest. Viewing it through the eyes of a liberal, though, suggests that the very mention by conservatives that racial discourse doesn’t need to be so dishonest actually makes conservatives all racists.

In reality, most of us are just racist against bad ideas. Continuously perpetuating the notion that the right is bubbling over with backwoods racist and Jim Crow fanboys isn’t just a bad idea, it’s a poor business model for a movement of supposed civil rights activists. Especially when members within their own ranks have been known to make themselves look backwoods. Al Sharpton doesn’t like Jews. Jesse Jackson has hated them since 1984, though he later apologized for remarks that damaged whatever credibility he had with American Jews. Harry Reid is proud to have a president that doesn’t speak like a black person. That these are people trusted by millions of American citizens isn’t unfortunate; it is potentially dangerous.

by Sir John Hawkins

John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.

Recently, I had a discussion with a friend where I suggested that if the black community hopes to really address the issue of race, we have to move past believing that slavery is a product of the present. Nobody discounts the struggles the black community faced, nor should they. But the very definition of American progress should be to use the past as a tool to make things better for future generations, not as a weapon. Liberals aren’t concerned about you feeling sorry for them anymore; making the conservative look bad is far more important to the cause. If the left can discredit a prominent conservative, especially a prominent black conservative, they count it as a victory. And black liberals are willing to sacrifice a member of their own community if he doesn’t tow the line of the down-trodden black man. It is racial jihad.

To be clear, Barack Obama largely won the presidency because he was black-only the most naÃ¯ve people believe otherwise-but conservatives don’t dislike him for the same reasons. That the right hates the president because he is black is one of the most ignorant and offensive charges lobbed at conservatives. It makes conservatives seem unprincipled and stupid. Most voters could care less what the color of the president’s skin is. They simply want a man in office that won’t use the oval as a means to stifle the rights of our citizens and abuse executive power. It doesn’t make you a racist if you oppose welfare, or the NAACP or the Congressional Black Caucus. Being pro-life doesn’t make you pro-‘keeping the black man down’.: Liberals just want the world to think it does.

Racism is not the elephant in the room as the left would have us believe. It hasn’t completely dissipated, but America has made incredible strides in being a nation of well-rounded, unique individuals of many faiths and ethnicities. The right isn’t trying to marginalize anyone; in fact, the goal of conservatism-at least as I know it- is to present values and methods to make the most of our lives. The most dangerous race-baiters don’t vote republican. They walk around touting Hope and Change as a means of shaping the narrative to fit whatever mold they want. As long as the left believes that playing the race card every time they don’t get what they want is good business, the tragedy that is race relations in this country can never be truly taken seriously. Contrary to popular belief, we are not a ‘nation of cowards’ when it comes to race; we are a nation of realists. And the reality is that the left is chewing up the Civil Rights Act and spitting it in all our faces.